4 / 54
6
Organizational Resilience | BSI and Cranfield School of Management
Foreword
Howard Kerr, Chief Executive, BSI
In 2014, BSI produced guidance on anticipating, preparing for, responding and
adapting to today’s volatile business climate. It represents collective best
practice thinking, created by industry for industry, the world’s first standard on
Organizational Resilience, BS 65000.
Little did we suspect how valuable such work would become to a global business
community that continues to experience unprecedented economic and political
uncertainty, and senior executives were keen for further detail on this subject.
We independently assessed their attitudes in 2015 with a global study of business
leader opinion, which found that almost nine in ten saw resilience as a priority
for their business, while eight in ten believed it to be indispensable for long-term
growth.
This original study, carried out in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit,
revealed that just a third of CEOs were confident their organization possessed the
resilience to survive long term.
With this new report, we have commissioned one of the world’s foremost
management schools to address that capability gap, consolidating 50 years of
management theory into a single report.
Striving for excellence requires business leaders to challenge complacency, promote
vigilance and embrace the need for continual improvement. This report reveals that
many organizations are instead sleepwalking to disaster through complacency of
processes and practice.
This report highlights that ‘waiting out a storm’ is no longer an option. Rather,
leaders must face the paradox of embracing risk if they are to succeed. Doing so
requires them to prepare their businesses to react to threats as opportunities,
adapting to survive and prosper.
For those of us at BSI, this is the true meaning of Organizational Resilience. That
a resilient organization is one that not merely survives over the long term, but
flourishes. We believe that mastering Organizational Resilience offers the best
opportunity to pass the test of time, unlocking future prosperity and securing
longevity. Those that learn to spring forward and not back, reap dividends for their
company, employees, investors, customers and society in general.
My hope is that this paper provides leaders with the insight to recognize the
need to lead their organization in taking measured risks and in doing so master
Organizational Resilience.
Howard Kerr, 2017
“Nine in ten saw
resilience as a
priority for their
business, while
eight in ten
believed it to be
indispensable for
long-term growth.”